


Tell Me A Story

by redlipstickkisses



Series: A Twisted Tale [1]
Category: Aschenputtel | Cinderella (Fairy Tale), Cinderella (Fairy Tale), La Belle au bois dormant | Sleeping Beauty - Charles Perrault, Naruto, Original Work, Sleeping Beauty - All Media Types
Genre: Don't steal children, Fae are not human, Gen, Madara You Must Control Your Temper, Oh look a canon character, Prologue, What is Morality?, actual naruto characters will appear shortly, thats bad
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-19
Updated: 2016-09-20
Packaged: 2018-08-09 16:21:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7808755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redlipstickkisses/pseuds/redlipstickkisses
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is not the kind of story that you tell in a straight line. It winds and turns through the woods forcing you to run and backtrack and forge your own path to keep up. Life is like that. So pull on your sturdiest boots and wrap yourself in a red cape (you never know what wolves are lurking just between the lines after all,) as you settle down and open your mind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Before It All Ends

_      Once upon a time. _ That is how these stories start? Isn’t it? 

    But Once Upon A Time, makes it sound so far away. 

    Untouchable. And darlings, that’s just untrue. 

    Stories are tricky, fragile things, but they curl themselves into the most intimate parts of ourselves. Our hearts and our minds. Stories are the lifeblood of many a soul. They are the thing that keeps immortals from fading away into the ether. However, somethings are left out of stories. Thought to be too brutal, gory and violent.

    (Like, the thing with immortals is they get  **_bored_ ** (think about it wouldn't you if you had forever?) and they don't play by mortal rules. To them death is part of a game, nothing to be taken seriously. And that's what makes them so  _ dangerous.  _ The fact that they don't  understand and don't  care.)

    No, stories are to be safe. No jagged edges or hidden spikes. Nothing to cut ourselves on as we swallow them down. Just something so smooth and sweet we choke to death instead. 

    (It is said that all good things come in threes. They forget that the opposite is true as well.)


	2. Something That's Wonderful

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where to start? Where to start. There are so many windows. So many mirrors. So many doors.
> 
> What do you call it when a child becomes a monster?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was posted as a one shot, the oneshot will be deleted as it is now a chapter for formatting reasons. Sorry.

   Where to start? Where to start. There are so many windows. So many mirrors. So many doors. Let’s begin with this one.

    Picture a boy, no more than 5. He is small, with large eyes and a quick smile. His mother had warned him about the woods. He didn’t listen. And so he is here, that quicksilver boy. Here, deep in the woods, watching in wonder as a pair of strange figures faded into being from thin air. One as solid and warm as the earth, and the other as airy and colorless as the night.

    “Well, well, what do we have here?” Their voice is as loud as rustling leaves and his thudding heartbeat.

    “Do we have here?” The other’s voice is echoing, mocking.

    The boy tries to be brave, and stands taller as the pair circles around him.

    “I’m not a what. I’m a who. I’m Uchiha Shisui.”  

    And the boy cannot feel it but the air ripples with the wild, unrestrained magic of a true name.

    “Shisui.” They echo as they peer closely into his eyes, unblinking. Shisui balks. It is unnerving, the way their edges blur and shift as if they’re nothing but a trick of the moonlight.

    “That’s what I said. Who are you?” Shisui says with all the childish authority he can muster.

    “We are known as Michi and Hibiki.” They say. It sounds of quiet footsteps you thought you heard behind you.  

    “Hibiki.” Echos from off to his side as they continue to circle him. Michi stops in front of him and cups his chin in their hand.

    “And you, young one,” Their grip tightens, digging into skin, as Shisui tries to jerk away. “Have trespassed where no mortal should. And gifted what should not be gifted.” Their smile is far too wide, like a gaping chasm, and full of teeth. “Come with us young one.”

    “Come with us.” Hibiki whispers into his ear as they brush against him, light as a breeze.

    The last Shisui sees of the mortal realm for years is a moss covered log being transformed into his double. It looks off. Too pale, too many sharp corners and blurring at the edges. His world goes dark.

    Poor child. His mother warned him not to wander into the woods. And yet he did anyway, with only the stars to guide him.

    Magic is not kind to those who wander blindly. To those who ask without expecting the consequences. (It is almost cruel to those who pay no head to the power of names.) Shisui wanted to go on an adventure, he wanted to be great. He got his wish. Just not the way he imagined it.

    The Court of Spring and Growth is not a kind place.

    (Everything grows after all. Cruelty, evil, all these things grow just as much as love and kindness. Life is indiscriminate.)

    There is no room for error. Shisui learns this quickly.

    The rule that stands above them all is this.

     _Fae cannot lie._

    Do not mistake them for kind or honest because of this. The Fair Folk are slippery folk after all.

    It matters not the reason why they can’t.

     (Some say it’s because they, themselves, are the lies. But riddle me this. What use does a hurricane have for lies. Even camouflage is a half truth.)

    Some hate humans for it. Some find them entertaining. Watching humans tangle themselves to death in their webs.

    Do not lie to the fae.

    (They will know. And they will seek retribution.)

    The only other rule is this.

    Fae cannot abide Iron.  

    (If they sense it on you, it might _just_ get you killed.)

    The _law_ is this.

    Mind yourself and you just might survive to tell the tale.

    Shisui grows. He becomes taller, his curly hair longer, his smile sharper, his eyes darker.

    What do you call it when a child becomes a monster?

    If only he had minded his mother’s warnings.


	3. Something Pretend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I guess we are not among the wise ones, are we.

    The clearing in the glen is noiseless.

    The low hum of insects is completely absent. No birds call. No animals wander through the grass or climb amongst the trees. Even the air lies heavy and thick.

Unmoving.

    This is the unnatural stillness of the calm before the storm.

    The creatures can sense it, and the wise ones are far away. (Will you be a wise one?)

    Cara crashes down onto the grass. The air stirs as she rolls over, with the fluid motion of a wave lapping against the shore. The movement is loud in the quiet. She drags her finger down her companion's arm, leaving a streak of cool, fresh mud, in her fingers wake, in an attempt gain their attention.

    “Ila, I’m _bored.”_ She’s ignored. Ila stays still, lying on their back, eyes closed. Their hair is fanning out around their head, mingling with the grass in a multi-color halo. Cara huffs and hovers over Ila, her itla-okla hair swaying. Moisture condenses on her skin. She waits as it  _slowly_  gathers and drips down onto Ila’s face. Ila’s eyes open and purple meets yellow.

    “So, go do something.” They say, exasperated. Cara perks up, scenting an opportunity. Fae are experts at hearing the unsaid and exploiting the un-clarified

    “Want to see who can cause the most chaos in a two hundred year stretch?”

    Ila relaxes back into the ground, their eyes sliding shut. Their lack of fight is their consent. This is an old song and dance between them after all. 

    Cara rolls away and midway through she melts away into swamp muck, leaving behind the echo of her cackle. Ila sighs and waits for a moment. (Time flows differently from realm to realm after all, and the best way to wreak havoc isn’t always to go about causing wars willy-nilly.)

    Something shifts.

    All that is left is a patch of light purple and blue flowers next to a patch of slick muck, just beginning to sprout a tiny yellow lily.

    The unnatural stillness never left.

    I guess we are not among the wise ones, are we.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> itla-okla- translates to tree hair, another name for Spanish moss.


	4. Give it a Moral

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was hard to cow those that wouldn’t bend to the woman who had taught you everything you knew. Madara was proud of of the fact that he managed to wait until Katsumi was out of the room before punching a wall.

    Madara could  _ feel _ Izuna laughing from the other side of the door. Never mind the fact that it was several inches thick. He was a brother. He knew these things. Like when his little snot of a baby brother was cackling mercilessly at his expense.  _ Especially _ then. 

    His eye was not twitching. Nope. Definitely not.

    Calm, Madara.Calm.

    He took a deep breath and let it out through his nose, before looking Elder Katsumi in the eye.

    “ _ Please _ repeat that.”

    As usual she did not look very impressed with him, or his manners, but after all these years on the receiving end of her reportedly infamous  _ Looks _ , he was fairly convinced that that was just her face. (Maybe it had gotten stuck that way. She had always warned them about that.) Still she was the only Elder who didn’t live with her head perpetually stuck in the sand. 

    Not that she didn't have her moments.

    “In two days, you will be the guest of honor at the Eclipse Festival.”

     And she was doing that thing with the corner of her mouth that wasn't frowning and her eyebrow was doing the not raising thing that meant he was one second away from trouble. Shit. She was serious. He felt his jaw clenching tighter.

    Calm. 

    In. Hold. Out. Hold. In.

    He was calm.

    “And this is why I was recalled from the front line.”  Katsumi inclined her head. Her bottom lip had pulled in a little. So she didn’t like it either.

    Madara wasn’t sure if he should be comforted that at least one of the Elders had an ounce of commons sense or fear that there obviously wasn’t enough to go around. 

    “Yes. Your absence at the past three Festival has been noted. It has also been decided that it is past time you found yourself some  _ companionship _ .” She said as she studied him, her dark eyes steady. The implied sneer at companionship made it clear what his orders were. Katsumi never had taken well to meddling in others love lives, and she was proud of the fact that she had kept hers non-existent despite it all.

     Don't wince. Do not wince. Don't,  _ Damn it _ , she had noticed. If his orders were coming from Katsumi, then no amount of shouting would make the Elders change them. He had learnt that the hard way. It was hard to cow those that wouldn’t bend to the woman who had taught you everything you knew. 

     Katsumi drew herself up regally, the soft sound of cloth swishing filling the room. 

     “May Amaterasu smile upon you, Madara.” 

     “And Susano’o walk beside you, Elder.”

    She left with just the briefest of brushes against his arm.

    Madara was proud of of the fact that he managed to wait until Katsumi was out of the room before punching a wall.


End file.
